The Older I Get

Okay, I got a little older this week.  The older I get the smaller I get and the bigger God gets. Goals change. Ambitions change. My list of “cannots” increases. My list of “wants” decreases. Pleasures decrease. Things I planned to do change. Things I want to do change. Pace changes. Rate of accomplishment changes.  Frankly, at times I hardly recognize me. 

I sincerely doubt God’s goals or ambitions concerning us change—ever! While He is incredibly patient with us, what He wants in us and for us is changeless. I sincerely doubt His “to do” list changes. Things that give Him joy are changeless. His plans do not change. His pace and rate of accomplishment do not change because His patience, mercy, and forgiveness are beyond human comprehension. God’s pace is unhurried but certain. God is the same as He was when we were born, or even when humanity began—He is very recognizable. 

The older I get the more unimportant I realize I am. At the same time, the older I get the more important I realize God is. I hope in some meaningful way I have been and am useful to God as He achieves His purposes. Yet, I realize that with or without me, God’s purposes will be done. I also realize most of my moments of urgent crises regarding the church are more a product of my fears than God’s realities. After all, God has worked with humans a long time. He knows what to expect from us. As much as we wish it were otherwise, I sincerely doubt that we surprise Him—ever! 

To me it is incredible that we humans hold any significance to God. Were it not for us, God would have a lot less heartache and anxiety. Yet, for some unfathomable reason, we are important to Him. How important? Important enough for God to love us when we do not deserve His love or patience. 

One of Paul’s favorite illustrations to describe our usefulness to God is the illustration of the body. Among the many points Paul made in his illustration, two stand out to me. First, we serve the role in the body God gave us. The primary thing my large intestine, my pancreas, and my eyeball have in common is, thankfully, they are parts of my body—though you would never know it by looking at each individually. Second, while we are not able to perform the same functions, we each are useful to God’s purposes—if we perform the function He gave us. 

Incredibly, to God there are no unimportant people when we as individuals have the courage to be a part of His people. Unlike humans, the issue with God is NEVER on what we cannot do. It is always on doing what we can do by being what we can be. 

Thus the older I get, the more at peace I am with being unimportant—as long as God grows in importance to me. 

In His Grip,
 -Jon

Make Mine the Automatic Version

I say this to your shame, Is it so that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren ... ? 1 Corinthians 6:5

“Decide????? You mean there are decisions involved in being a Christian? I have to decide? I thought the only decision involved was to say you believed!”

Me, I am an automatic man! I love machines that take the work out of tasks. I do not enjoy the experience but the results! Automatic cameras, automatic transmissions—automatics are my machines! I love good decisions made without my having to choose!

It is so simple to become a Christian that we regard it to be a convenient machine. We express a desire to be baptized. We are asked if we believe that Jesus is the son of God. We are baptized for the remission of sins. We make a congregation our church home. We attend that congregation several times a month. We may or may not get involved in the congregation’s activities. We say (when asked) that we attend “X” congregation.

It is done! We are members! We are Christians! In fact, we are insulted if anyone questions that we are Christians. After all, we attend most of the time. We are on the congregation’s membership list. Our contact information is on the database. Our picture is in the directory. Why would anyone question our Christianity?

Please, do not mistake the point! We are a congregation of men and women who were baptized for the remission of sins because of faith in Jesus as God’s son. We seek to be a community of believers who wish to be known to and contacted by our spiritual family.

However, there is more to being a Christian than baptism, declaring membership, attendance, and involvement in church activities. It is a spiritual growth commitment. Increasingly, it involves who we are, how we behave, what kind of single person we are, what kind of spouse we are, what kind of parent we are, how we interact with people, what kind of employee/employer we are, what kind of neighbor we are, etc.

There is no automatic version of Christianity. Yes, faith involves personal decision making! The more spiritually mature we become, the more decisions we make!

In His Grip,

Bro. Jon